St. Francis Girls Win Rich South Tournament

February 19, 1985|By Linda Young.

Lexie Orenic hit six of eight free throws in the last three minutes to help St. Francis of Joliet (20-1) hold off Illiana Christian 50-45 Monday for the championship of the 32-team Rich South Galaxy Invitational tournament.

The Angels, who entered the three-day tournament seeded third, trailed 34-31 going into the fourth quarter, but Orenic`s free throw shooting and the scoring of Chris Toscas, voted the tournament most valuable player, pulled them even with three minutes to play.

The 6-foot-2-inch Toscas, who sat out the final five minutes of the first half with three fouls, finished with 25 points, 15 in the second half.

Joan VanderZee, who, like Orenic and Toscas was named to the all-tournament team, led No. 9-seeded Illiana with 20 points. Illiana Christian had upset top-seeded Lincoln-Way in the tournament`s second round.

In the third-place game, junior Lori Miller scored 26 points and senior Paula Pozezinski added 11 to lead Shepard (18-5) to a 61-52 victory over Thornton Fractional North. Sophomore Mary Heintz had 19 for the Meteors.

Carolyn Jackson had 19 points to lead Thornton to a 43-41 victory over Willowbrook in the consolation championship. Mary McNicholas led Willowbrook with 16 points.